Making a Daily Sacrifice of Self

When you work with people, especially in a service industry, each day requires personal sacrifice. Teachers, parents, sales people, managers, and the like must measure their words and actions carefully in order to produce a positive influence upon those they serve. When you give into a grumpy mood and a let a quick, sharp, careless word slip, months of effective work can be lost. Unresolved conflict with coworkers, parents, supervisors, or students can turn your work place into a battle ground of sorts. Even an act of unintentional indifference can derail a working relationship by sending a message of unimportance. A true follower of Jesus does not put personal needs ahead of others’ needs. They must think before they act; they must purposely "act" rather than "react." They must be okay with rigorous dialogue, appropriate challenge, and uncomfortable conversations. This requires personal sacrifice. So,I give you two parallels of Romans 12:1-2. Each translation gives insight that may prove helpful to making personal meaning when considering what it means to be a living sacrifice.

Romans 12:1 from The Message (MSG)
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Romans 12:1-2 New Living Translation (NLT)
And so, dear brothers and sisters,[a] I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.[b] 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Followers of Jesus should willingly go where they do not choose to go, to do things they prefer not to do, to put personal preferences upon the altar, and to die to their rights for the sake of Christ. We tend to want to live in a place of comfort and safety, but Paul calls us to present ourselves as a sacrifice before God--a living sacrifice. God wants us to willingly crawl on the sacrificial table and die to ourselves (put to death our will) each day we live. Each morning we are to "present" ourselves before God as the daily "sacrifice"--a sacrifice of our personal will, our way, our desires, our preferences, our comfort and our plans.

Being a living sacrifice is a huge challenge for us. Our flesh-nature keeps getting in the way and causes us to crawl off the alter and back to our place of safety. But, we can do so much more if we allow ourselves to be a tool in God's hands. Do you realize the full impact of someone completely surrendered as a "tool" for God's purposes? When we die to ourselves each morning, we are free to seek God's will. We are released from our own expectations and agendas, and empowered to do the work of the Lord. Paul says that this is our form of worship to God.



Why is it so hard for us to be a living sacrifice? We are flesh; we have wants and needs; we want to have fun; we have goals and desire success; we want to be accepted by others; who wants to die? Not me! Jesus said in Matthew 16:25 Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it (KJV). Death to self is the way to life! It may be easier said than done, yet you can choose to make this decision each day by applying the following:

1. Do not conform to the world. Conforming is an outward process that others can see and is defined as the following:
con•form•i•ty (kənˈfɔr mɪ ti) n., pl. -ties.
1. action in accord with prevailing social standards, attitudes, practices, etc.
2. correspondence in form, nature, or character; agreement; congruity.
3. compliance or acquiescence; obedience.

2. Be transformed. Transformation is an inward process. The mind and heart are changed. This process can take years. God’s promises us in Ezekiel 36:26, New Living Translation (NLT)... And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. Sometimes we slip back into the old mind set and the mind must be renewed or "sacrificed" often.

3. Be humble in service. We must not think too highly of ourselves and become complacent. Serving others is our way to fulfill our place in the Body of Christ. View each conversation with another, unplanned interruption, or unforeseen need as giving ourselves over as a personal sacrifice and another opportunity to win one over for Christ.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We are willing to be used up for You. Give us the courage to crawl on the sacrificial altar each day, to go the direction You chose for us and to follow You wherever You lead. Teach us how to die to ourselves daily and view each act and circumstance as a form of worship of You. We pray in Jesus' Most Awesome Name...Amen.